For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'all Too is a book for more than just white educators who teach primarily minority students. The book focusses on low income, urban schools which have a majority of black and latino students, but the themes can be applied to any scholastic or workplace setting. It is essentially a tutorial on a how to build a communal atmosphere in the classroom and then use that framework to motivate students to learn. Christopher Emdin shows why a traditional background in modern educational practices is not enough to motivate disadvantaged kids to learn. He uses his own experiences to illustrate how easy it is to falsely confirm biased preconceptions. Then he explains how the heart of the problem lies in how those elevated into administrative positions create policy based off those preconceptions. The overall tone of the book however, is optimistic. Emdin provides a strategy for making substantive change in urban education.
The book effectively portrays the disconnect between white teachers and students of color. Emdin refers to these students as neoindigenous, literally meaning “new indigenous”. He believes their struggles are deeply related to those indigenous Americans experienced as the Unites States expanded and forced integration. He argues that the primary cause of discord in the past was the failure to acknowledge the value of Native American culture and incorporate it into Western dogma. Emdin claims that the same thing is happening today to black and brown students.
” The leaders within the field of urban education can’t fathom the day-to-day experiences of urban students who see themselves as ready to learn despite not being perceived that way.”
He proposes that schools are alienating students from their communities as they attempt to “reform” them. One of his core ideas is that Neoindigenous are failing because teachers treat them as if their culture is inferior. They think the only way to achieve progress is by erasing their identity and replacing it with obedience. Emdin makes it clear that this only leads to either rebellion or soul crushing submission. The best solution is sympathetic insight.
“Addressing the issues that plague urban education requires a true vision that begins with seeing students in the same way they see themselves.”
He acknowledges that it isn’t the teacher’s fault, that teachers are trying hard, but the methods they are instructed to use don’t reach neoindigenous populations.
Emdin does a great job of introducing educational concepts and showing how to properly employ new techniques in the classroom. Each chapter of the book builds upon the ideas of the last to create a broad strategy. Every method he suggests is related to fostering a communal atmosphere, resulting in what he calls pentecostal pedagogy. In his own words
“Pentecostal pedagogy considers the language of the students, and incorporates it into the teaching by welcoming slang, colloquialisms, and “nonacademic” expressions, and then uses them to introduce new topics, knowledge, and conversations...Pentecostal pedagogy teaches us that once student voice is prominent in the classroom, and a classroom family structure has been established, issues that traditionally plague urban classrooms, like poor management and low participation, are quickly addressed or even self-corrected.”
The core tactic designed to implement pentecostal pedagogy is the cogen. Cogen is short for cogenerative dialogue, meaning a discussion among the teacher and students about their collective needs. By collecting a small, diverse group of students from the class and making them comfortable enough to share their thoughts the teacher gains a great deal of insight. After the cogen is established Emdin shows how it can be used to create a cosmopolitan classroom, one which lets students feel connected to their class and educational goals. The key is allowing students to take part in the process.
“students in traditional K– 12 schools have to be viewed as partners with the adults who are officially charged with the delivery of content and be seen/ named/ treated as fellow teachers or coteachers.”
Emdin chronicles his past experience with these methods by highlighting his success as well as the hurdles to proper execution.
Perhaps the most demanding instruction the book suggests is that educators must go outside their comfort zone and into the neighborhoods of the neoindigenous. The majority of teachers never identify with their pupils beyond the teacher/mentor relationship. Emdin believes to really know someone you have to go where they live.
“it became clear that there are three basic steps to fully learning about, and engaging with, students’ context….The first involves being in the same social spaces with the neoindigenous, the second is engaging with the context, and the third is making connections between the out-of-school context and classroom teaching.”
This step is the embodiment of all the other processes in pentecostal pedagogy. Emdin contends that to really know someone and make genuine connections you have to enter their social spaces.
I think Christopher Emdin does an incredible job of demonstrating how to use pedagogical techniques in any environment. The focus is the neoindiginous population but I think the insight he provides is universally applicable. The layman reader will finish this book with a deep understanding of why many kids are struggling and how to fix it. Professional educators will have a refreshing example of how to use the tools they have acquired in their own education to reach their students.
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Top reviews from other countries
- OhimaiReviewed in Canada on November 8, 2024
I Recommend this book for all educators
- Tony GordonReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 15, 2018
I highly recommend this for anyone working in or with an overstanding ...
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in Canada on March 27, 2016
Amazing book that is needed to change our schools systems so all students succeed
